Air travel has becoming increasing popular over the past decade and has evolved to handle an ever growing passenger volume. An important aspect of this evolution is the structure of flight routes through a "hub" airport. Today, hub routing has become an essential part of the efficient operation of an airline.
This trend has been aided by the advent of regional aircraft. As used herein, the term "regional aircraft" refers to jet or propeller aircraft that are smaller than typical large commercial airline passenger jets and are used to service regional, as opposed to national, passenger routes. Regional aircraft will typically be identified as having about 110 seats or less. Aircraft with substantially more than 110 seats and which are used to travel traditional airline routes between major airports are considered "large aircraft" or "large jets" herein. The advent of regional aircraft has created a new market for air travel in which air passengers can span relatively large distances quickly on a regional aircraft at the end or beginning of a trip while using a larger jet to cover the bulk of the trip mileage.
Manufacturers of regional aircraft, particularly craft with 50 or fewer seats, include Brazilian aircraft maker Embraer SA, Canada's Bombardier and Fairchild Aerospace of the United States. The popularity of regional aircraft produced by these manufacturers has exceeded expectations. For example, Bombardier forecast initial sales of 400 aircraft when it launched its regional jet model in the early 1990s. Bombardier instead received orders and options for 1,066 of its CRJ-200 50-seater and larger CRJ-700 derivative. Similarly, Embraer booked dozens more orders than expected for its ERJ-135 and ERJ-145 aircraft at a recent Paris airshow.
Capitalizing on this strong commercial interest, Bombardier has launched the CRJ-700, a 70-seat aircraft, and plans an even larger BRJ-X model with 90 or 110 seats. Fairchild has recently launched the 70-seat 728JET and also offers a longer version with around 100 seats. Embraer has also booked orders for its new ERJ-170 and ERJ-190, with about 70 and 100 seats, respectively.
One problem with regional aircraft travel is that the regional aircraft terminal is often located at a site remote from the main terminal. Consequently, a passenger on a regional aircraft, whether transferring to or from a large aircraft, needs to traverse the length of the airport and/or travel between terminals to make the transfer. As air travel becomes increasingly popular and important to the economy, the frequent regional aircraft passenger represents an increasing share of the air travel market. Consequently, a significant problem is presented by the remote location of the regional aircraft terminal which prevents quick and seamless plane transfers for the regional aircraft passenger. Additionally, the remote location of the regional aircraft terminal also affects airline scheduling for large aircraft because passengers must be allowed time to traverse the often large distances between a regional aircraft boarding gate and the boarding gate for the large aircraft.
Another problem with regional aircraft travel is that the passenger is frequently required to walk outside on the tarmac and climb stairs to board the regional aircraft. If the weather is inclement, boarding and deplaning from a regional aircraft is made more difficult than boarding and deplaning from large aircraft entirely within the closed and conditioned space of conventional airports which have been developed for large aircraft.
Where a passenger is unable to walk, boarding a regional aircraft from the tarmac in a wheelchair can present additional problems. In the past, these problems have been addressed by building some kind of wheelchair lift. However, such boarding is often time consuming and can be a source of embarrassment or self-consciousness for the wheelchair passenger. The combination of a wheelchair lift and inclement weather may make the prospect of regional aircraft travel even less acceptable for disabled passengers.
Consequently, there is a need in the art to make regional aircraft travel more convenient and efficient. Specifically, as regional aircraft become more prevalent, a need exists to integrate terminals and boarding gates for the regional aircraft with terminals and boarding gates for large aircraft in a manner that overcomes the problems of the prior art.